I think it is time to "High Five" Mother Nature

Friday, March 9, 2018

Written by Win Smith

From Win:

I think it is time to “High Five” Mother Nature, but before I do, I want to High Five a few others.

Last weekend, Roy Tuscany held his 7th Annual High Fives Fat Ski-A-Thon to raise money for the High Fives Foundation. The event created a lot of buzz in the Lincoln Peak base area, and more importantly, raised $196,107 so that Roy and the High Fives Foundation can continue to do great work. I did First Tracks with Roy and some of his friends Saturday morning and then skied down Cliffs with him again on Wednesday. It is so inspirational to see Roy skiing down the slopes with such an infectiously positive attitude. Friday evening at a gathering at Lareau Farms, Roy and Jesse Murphy, the Foundation’s Chair, unveiled their plans for a new High Fives Therapy center similar to the one they have created in Truckee, CA. It would be located next to Vermont North at the bottom of the Access Road. This is an exciting project and will allow their good work to help more injured athletes here in the north-east. High Fives to Roy and his team.

Last month, Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports held their Snowball fundraiser in Rumble's Kitchen, and announced plans for a new VASS home attached to the base lodge at Mount Ellen. This would be similar to what they currently have at Pico, and would greatly enhance their ability to continue the wonderful work that they do here at Sugarbush. High Fives to Maggie and her team. We love partnering with you and watching your many athletes on the slopes of both Mt. Ellen and Lincoln Peak.

Later this month on Sunday, March 18th, we will be hosting our second annual "KBF Community Ski Day" to support the Kelly Brush Foundation. Last year, I tried using a monoski and gained an even greater appreciation for those whom I see navigating down the slopes with such grace and ease. High Fives to Kelly for all the great work you and your team do.

We are really fortunate to be partnering with these three organizations that work together to provide such wonderful support to those in need. Many thanks to all of you who are generous supporters of theirs.

And now, a High Fives to Mother Nature for giving us another nice March snowstorm. While it took her a while to deliver, she definitely did, a week earlier than last year. We received 2” in the early part of the day on Wednesday, another 6” overnight into Thursday, and then another 5—6” by Friday morning. And it looks like the flurries and light snow will continue right through the weekend and into next week. We are once again 100 percent open with hiking over to Castlerock. While we are comfortable opening Castlerock to hiking, we felt that running the lift would create too much traffic for the slopes of Castlerock to handle. The top has a lot more cover than the lower portions. We would rather have a very nice experience for some rather than a lousy one for many. We also know that many people enjoy the hike over and will get more of a feel for what the conditions are like. As it gets skied in, it will not take too much more (of the right type of) snow for us to feel comfortable running the lift and putting more traffic on it.

For the same reason, we will not be holding the Castlerock Extreme on Lift Line on Saturday, but rather will be using the lower half of Murphy’s Glades and Lower Birdland. While not held on Lift Line, Castlerock Extreme will provide interesting terrain for some creative skiing, and will provide good entertainment for those riding Super Bravo.

We assessed Slide Brook today, and both our lift mechanics and ski patrol feel there is sufficient snow cover to run the lift tomorrow, so it will be scheduled to run at 10 AM.

Keep thinking snow! We still have a good two months of skiing and riding left, and many fun weekend events to enjoy. We plan to be open every day through Sunday, April 22nd and then reopen the following two weekends with a grand finale on Cinco de Mayo weekend events.

Passholders, don’t forget to take advantage of our loyalty renewal program before season passes for the 2018-2019 season go on sale to everyone on March 17th.